WSPÓŁCZESNE TENDENCJE W ZAKRESIE LIBERALIZACJI ABORCJI JAKO PRZEJAW ZMAGAŃ CYWILIZACJI ŻYCIA Z CYWILIZACJĄ ŚMIERCI UJĘCIE JANA PAWŁA II
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS TO LIBERALIZE ABORTION: ON THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE CIVILIZATION OF LIFE AND THE CIVILIZATION OF DEATH; THE APPROACH OF JOHN PAUL II

Summary/Abstract: Thirty years ago, John Paul II outlined in the encyclical Evangelium Vitae a picture of contemporary society "marked by a dramatic struggle between the 'culture of life' and the 'culture of death'" (Section 95). "The profound crisis of culture, which generates scepticism in relation to the very foundations of knowledge and ethics, and which makes it increasingly diffi cult to grasp clearly the meaning of what man is, the meaning of his rights and duties" (Section 11) is a source of new threats, such as a gradual increase in the social approval for attacks against life in the name of the right to individual freedom and the recognition of such attacks as entirely legal by the legislative systems in numerous countries. Overcoming this crisis becomes the primary task for laying the foundations for the "civilization of life." By undermining the inviolable nature of human dignity and inalienable human rights, the social transformations in question affect the very foundations of democracy. In Poland, such trends have sparked a debate on the limits of the legal protection of human life. The Constitutional Tribunal took a clear position on the matter, repeatedly emphasizing that a democratic Rechtsstaat (jurisprudent state) should recognize, as its primary value, the human being and the goods that are most valuable to human beings. Among these goods is all human life at every stage of its development, which, as such, must fall under constitutional protection. Legislative proposals which interpret abortion as a human right and result in questioning the fact that a human life is an inherent rightful good which requires direct legal protection certainly do not meet the standards of a Rechtsstaat.

• Details
• Contents